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ITT: people who read the first chapter of the book commenting on how it s about motorcycle repair vs people who read the whole book telling them that it's not.

ITT: people who read the first chapter of the book commenting on how it s about motorcycle repair vs people who read the whole book telling them that it's not. (It took me three tries to get past the first tangental monologue chapter, and I was deeply rewarded by doing so. It's a great book but not what you may expect based on the title or first chapters)

thrav 7y ago
Anyone ITT who read his second book? I think it’s better.
- zafka 7y ago
  I read both books. I liked Lila also,but I have always held "Zen..." in high esteem.
sharkweek 7y ago
And then there are people like me who read it but watched about 75% of the content whoosh over our heads. If someone offered me one million dollars to clearly explain the book to them right now, I wouldn’t be able to do it.
- tekstar 7y ago
  I think that's par for the course. I think of the book as a journey where different parts may be meaningful to different people. But yeah I drifted through a number of the monologues with a determination to make it through to the end, not easy at parts. Easier than Godel Escher Bach however! Pretty sure I'll never get through that one
- StavrosK 7y ago
  I'm the same way, I read it and my impression was "it's about quality or something". Maybe I should read it again.
  - sharkweek 7y ago
    Hah, exactly what I told a friend who asked about it when he saw it in my living room when I was reading it.
- colechristensen 7y ago
  This is a bit funny because that was a major point when Persig was talking about Quality: it escapes definition. To take a stab at it: On the top layer it is a mostly true story about a man, his boy, and a couple of friends taking a motorcycle road trip from Minneapolis to San Francisco. The next layer is significant portions of the book which the author calls a chautauqua which was a thing somewhere at the intersection of TED talks, a variety show, and a university lecture. He goes on about Zen, motorcycles, and philosophy partially through recollections of his own history (spoiler alert: unreliable narrator). The central theme is his own definition of Quality used as a bridge between exacting analytical logic, "western thought" and emotional, subjective, artistic, "eastern thought", and beauty. On the third layer, you get to watch the author, who experienced significant mental health issues (I think schizophrenia) and electroshock (not positive this part was true) who sort of came over the hill into a more healthy mind but still experiencing some megalomania writing a somewhat grandiose book about his own history and thoughts, his relationship with his son, and growth.

thrav 7y ago

Anyone ITT who read his second book? I think it’s better.

zafka 7y ago
I read both books. I liked Lila also,but I have always held "Zen..." in high esteem.

sharkweek 7y ago

And then there are people like me who read it but watched about 75% of the content whoosh over our heads. If someone offered me one million dollars to clearly explain the book to them right now, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

tekstar 7y ago
I think that's par for the course. I think of the book as a journey where different parts may be meaningful to different people. But yeah I drifted through a number of the monologues with a determination to make it through to the end, not easy at parts. Easier than Godel Escher Bach however! Pretty sure I'll never get through that one
StavrosK 7y ago
I'm the same way, I read it and my impression was "it's about quality or something". Maybe I should read it again.
- sharkweek 7y ago
  Hah, exactly what I told a friend who asked about it when he saw it in my living room when I was reading it.
colechristensen 7y ago
This is a bit funny because that was a major point when Persig was talking about Quality: it escapes definition. To take a stab at it: On the top layer it is a mostly true story about a man, his boy, and a couple of friends taking a motorcycle road trip from Minneapolis to San Francisco. The next layer is significant portions of the book which the author calls a chautauqua which was a thing somewhere at the intersection of TED talks, a variety show, and a university lecture. He goes on about Zen, motorcycles, and philosophy partially through recollections of his own history (spoiler alert: unreliable narrator). The central theme is his own definition of Quality used as a bridge between exacting analytical logic, "western thought" and emotional, subjective, artistic, "eastern thought", and beauty. On the third layer, you get to watch the author, who experienced significant mental health issues (I think schizophrenia) and electroshock (not positive this part was true) who sort of came over the hill into a more healthy mind but still experiencing some megalomania writing a somewhat grandiose book about his own history and thoughts, his relationship with his son, and growth.